Joan hopes her award inspires women to take the next step

BORN and raised at Yanakie in South Gippsland, with the image of Wilsons Promontory “implanted in my brain”, Joan Liley has always been a practical conservationist.

Together with her Walkerville farmer husband Rob, that translated into active membership of the Fish Creek Landcare Group and a string of other community representative roles, more recently as a member of Farmers for Climate Action and Prom Area Climate Action, while participating in a Victorian Government initiative for carbon sequestration on farms.

Joan’s involvement in the Gippsland community in particular goes well beyond farming and care for the environment, extending to roles in aged care, water resource management, education and community-building initiatives.

For services to conservation and the community, the former teacher, farmer, role model and community leader has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the General Division in Monday’s King’s Birthday Honours.

Starting out her working life as a primary school teacher and high school teacher in New South Wales, Joan moved back to the South Gippsland area in the early 70s with her new husband, and as well as farming, she worked at the Leongatha High School before moving on to the Foster High School when the Leongatha High and Tech schools merged.

Mrs Liley had already accepted a number of community leadership roles when she was approached by the inaugural chairman of South Gippsland Water to apply for a board position on Southern Rural Water.

“I hesitate to say I was the right person, in the right place, at the right time, but it was a time when they were looking for country women, tertiary qualified with a farming background and who understood country communities well.

“I guess I ticked all those boxes and it continued on from there but I must say that Lew was a constant encouragement to me and it’s something I have tried to continue on with as well, encouraging women who want to take the next step, that they have the capacity to do it and do it well.

“I’m still on a number of selection boards, so I still get that opportunity, “wise woman work” I like to call it, when you’ve of an age where you can hope to pass something on”.

Her service to the community and conservation is extensive, including but not limited to the following:

In Gippsland

• Chair, Gippsland Integrated Water Management Forum, 2018.
• Board Member, Victorian Catchment Management Council, 2015-2021.
• Victorian Catchment Management Council Representative, Victorian Environmental Water Holder Environmental Water Matters Conference, 2020.
• Member, Environmental Sustainability Reference Group, Victorian Government, 2018-2020.
• Member, Selection Panel, Water Industry and Catchment Management Authority Board, 2015-2021.
• Member, Reference Group, Victoria Water Plan, 2014-2016.
• Chair, South Gippsland Water, 2011-2015; Director, 2004-2015.
• Member, Victorian Water Industry Association, 2013-2015.
• Director, West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority, Traralgon, 2003-2011.
• Director, Southern Rural Water, Maffra, 1998-2001.
• Director, Gippsland Ports, Bairnsdale, 2003-2011.
• Board Member, VicWater.
• Chair, Statewide Riparium Forum.
• Member, Ministerial Panel, Central Gippsland Region Sustainable Water Strategy.

In Aged Care

• Patron, Prom Country Aged Care Bequest Program.
• Chair, Audit and Risk Management Subcommittee, Prom Country Aged Care, 2009-2019.
• Board Member, Prom Country Aged Care, 2009-2019.
• Board Member, Gippsland Regional Aged Care Enterprise, 2017-2019

In Community

• Member, Southern Businesswomen's Network.
• Member, Fish Creek Landcare.
• Secretary, Fish Creek Kindergarten.
• Secretary, Fish Creek Primary School.
• Member, Fish Creek Children’s Literature Festival.
• Member, Sea Change Festival.
• Member, Walkerville Red Cross.
• Member, Farmers for Climate Action.
• Member, Just Transition South Gippsland.

Awards and recognition include:

• Award, Celebrate Her, 2022.
• Life Member, Board, Prom Country Aged Care, 2019.
• Fellow, Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Mrs Liley was reminded of a recent interview she did with the Sentinel-Times when she said the experience of being brought up on a farm at Yanakie, in sight on Wilsons Promontory, had left an indelible imprint on her brain and an unwavering love of the land.

“We’ve always had a keen interest in sustainable agriculture and we’ve been involved in a lot of programs which support that to the point now where our cattle attract a premium due to our sustainable practices.”

But she said that while she rarely engaged in the physical aspects of farming life these days, women in agriculture didn’t need to get their boots dirty to contribute.

“Women should be recognised far more than they are for their input into farming business strategies. I rarely get out and do anything physical, but I have a major input in the business decisions.

“And many women work solely in a voluntary capacity in the community, doing amazing things,” she said, observing that the community would be all the poorer without that underestimated effort.

“I’m enormously proud and humbled to receive the award but more than that, I hope it serves to inspire other woman, who would like to take that next step, to have a go.”